Category: Other

PARIS, Nov 12, 2007 (AFP) – The Council of Europe issued a damning report Monday accusing governments of eroding basic rights in the name of the United States-led “war on terror”.“Increasingly, in the name of the war on terror, the executive is in the process of severely limiting the sphere of competence of judiciary power,” […]

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) – Low-cost computers meant to usher poor children worldwide into the digital age are being mass produced in China as US nonprofit One Laptop Per Child strives to deliver on its promise. The first of the XO laptops being built at a Quanta Computer facility in Changshu are destined […]

LONDON, Nov 11, 2007 (AFP) – Foreign ministers will debate whether Pakistan should be suspended from the Commonwealth over President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule at an extraordinary meeting Monday.Nations including Britain and Canada have called for tough action ahead of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group gathering and Secretary-General Don McKinnon described the state […]

SANTIAGO, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) – Spain’s King Juan Carlos I told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “just shut up,” bringing an Ibero-American summit to end in spectacular fashion on Saturday.Spain’s monarch stormed out just before the scheduled end of the forum, visibly furious at Chavez’s description of his former prime minister as a “fascist” […]

NEW YORK, Nov 9, 2007 (AFP) – The gloom on Wall Street has intensified with investor confidence shaken by the banking industry’s troubles and the economic outlook becoming darker. In a punishing week for the market, the main indexes fell sharply as record-high crude oil prices and a sagging dollar further undermined sentiment. The Dow […]

BEIJING, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) – China’s central bank announced Saturday that it would raise the reserve ratio requirement for banking institutes by half a percentage point to 13.5 percent as of November 26. Despite repeated measures to cool growth largely driven by excess cash in circulation, China’s economy expanded by 11.9 percent in the […]

TOKYO, Nov 9, 2007 (AFP) – The euro hit a fresh record high against the dollar Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy picture of the US economy, dealers said.It declined to 42.78 Philippine pesos from 43.37 and to 9,126.50 Indonesian rupiah from 9,155.50 but remained unchanged at 31.54 Thai baht. His […]

TOKYO, Nov 9, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s largest telecom group NTT said Friday its operating profit for the first half dropped 18.4 percent as its cellphone unit DoCoMo suffered a slump amid a price war.Net profit is seen at 530 billion yen, up from 460 billion yen, but the revenue forecast was cut to 10.6 […]

NEW YORK, Nov 7, 2007 (AFP) – Crude oil prices eased back from new peaks near the 100-dollar mark Wednesday after a weekly US energy report showed a smaller-than-expected decline in stockpiles. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, dipped 33 cents to close at 96. 37 dollars a barrel, after hitting […]

SINGAPORE, Nov 7, 2007 (AFP) – Oil powered to a new all-time trading high in Asian trade Wednesday amid expectations of a decline in US energy reserves ahead of the peak northern hemisphere winter, dealers said. At 9:15 am (0115 GMT), New York’s main contract light sweet crude for December delivery was up 52 cents […]

SYDNEY, Nov 7, 2007 (AFP) – Australia’s central bank raised interest rates 0.25 points to an 11-year high of 6.75 percent Wednesday in a move expected to hurt Prime Minister John Howard’s re-election hopes. “Having weighed both the international and domestic information available, the board judged that a further increase in the cash rate was […]